CHICAGO _ Miguel Andujar's 13th-inning RBI single and Sonny Gray's three innings of scoreless relief saved the Yankees from a second devastating loss in three nights.
One out from securing a 10-inning win, Zach Britton served up a game-tying, two-run homer to Jose Abreu on Tuesday night.
Yet, Gray's first foray as a Yankees reliever and Andujar's go-ahead hit off Luis Avilan lifted the Yankees to a 4-3 victory against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Park.
Giancarlo Stanton's 26th homer of the year _ a tie-breaking, two-run shot in the 10th inning off Tyler Danish _ seemed to end a night of frustration for the Yankees' lineup.
Yankees starter CC Sabathia racked up 12 strikeouts, yet the Yankees weren't making a dent in Chicago's right-handed starter Reynaldo Lopez.
But in the seventh, Andujar led off with a game-tying homer off Lopez and the Yankees (70-42) were into the battle of the bullpens against the White Sox (41-72).
Five Yankees relievers were used immediately after Sabathia, with Britton as the closer.
Aroldis Chapman threw 39 pitches in Sunday's devastating blown save at Boston and might have been getting an extra day of rest.
Britton's command was shaky from the start, hitting No. 9 hitter Omar Narvaez to open the 10th and unleashing two wild pitches before Abreu connected for his 20th homer of the year, a two-out shot to center.
For the second time this year, and the 39th of his career, Sabathia reached at least 10 strikeouts in a start.
He previously did it with 10 strikeouts on June 17, in 72/3 innings against Tampa Bay.
On Tuesday, Sabathia needed only 52/3 innings to strike out 12 batters, two shy of his career high. Of his 12 strikeouts, 11 of them were on swings.
Sabathia defused a first-and-second, one-out situation with a strikeout of Yolmer Sanchez in the second inning. He also used two strikeouts to get out of a first-and-second, none-out jam in the fifth.
The trouble was, he twice walked No. 9 hitter Omar Narvaez, which cost him.
Narvaez led off the third with a walk, moved to third on Avisail Garcia's one-out double and scored on Jose Abreu's sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead.
Sabathia rebounded to strike out seven of the last 11 batters he faced, including striking out the side _ in order _ in the fourth.
Just as he did on Monday night, White Sox center fielder Adam Engel robbed the Yankees of another home run.
Total savings: Four runs.
After extending his glove over the fence to steal a three-run homer from Greg Bird in Monday night's fourth inning, Engel did it again on Tuesday.
This time, Engel brought back Kyle Higashioka's bid for a fifth-inning solo home run, timing his leap at the warning track and reaching over the wall _ preventing the Yanks from tying the game.
Through five innings, the Yankees were hitless against Lopez.
And when they did break through for a couple of hits, the heart of the order let them down.
Aaron Hicks collected the Yanks' first hit of the night, a well-struck, ground-rule double to left-center leading off the sixth.
Hicks moved to third on a passed ball and remained there on Stanton's gift infield single.
But Didi Gregorius popped out, Gleyber Torres's sinking fly was caught by a charging Engel and Bird struck out.
Lopez yielded just one run in seven innings.
For a second consecutive game, Neil Walker started at third base while Andujar served as the designated hitter.
Asked if the decision was based on Andujar's defense, specifically his pivotal error in Sunday's ninth inning at Boston, manager Aaron Boone said:
"There's things that we work on behind the scenes and things that we'll address, but (it had) a lot less to do with that" than the idea of giving Walker two straight games in the field.
A similar idea applied to Higashioka, catching his second straight game on Tuesday.
Given that Austin Romine had caught five straight games, including the entire recent four-game series against Boston, "it seemed to make sense to give him two (days off) in a row," Boone said.
